Contents of April 2006

COMMENT
Making lists and setting goals

LETTERS

10 YEARS OF PUBLISHING
Looking back over the years

UPFRONT

INSPIRATION OF THE DECADE
Most impressive project

INSULT OF THE DECADE
Urban rivers berated

PLANNING PERSONALITY
Nomvula Mokonyane’s plan for sustainability

‘BURBS OF THE DECADE
Praiseworthy suburbs

CITY VISIT
Witbank under the spotlight

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND DESIGN
Thesen transformed

WASTE MANAGEMENT & POLLUTION CONTROL
A close look at urban river pollution

LOOKING 10 YEARS AHEAD
Questioning the future of South Africa’s cities towards 2016

10 IDEAS
Exploring 10 interventions to improve our cities

TREE OF THE DECADE
Acacia xanthophloea – the ‘fever tree’

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COMMENT

Making lists and setting goals
Working on the 10th anniversary edition of Urban Green File reminded me of the turn of the millennium when lists were made and achievements highlighted.

I happened to stumble upon one of these lists on the Internet, titled Ten successes that shaped the 20th century American city, compiled by Laurence C Gerckens.

What struck me was the positive perspective of identifying 10 ‘successes’.

We so often argue in terms of correcting the ‘apartheid’ city. This is a reality but maybe it is time that we set ourselves positive goals. What if we could one day list the successes that shaped the South African city? In March this year, at the Planning Africa conference in Cape Town, some potential successes were highlighted:
*            Creating effective partnerships with civil society so that we see a transition from mere ‘public interest’ to a more informed ‘civic culture’.
*            Unleashing creative energies rather than seeking standardised solutions.
*            Popularising development by having the media (printed or other) stimulate public debate on planning and development issues.
*            A commitment to greater choice – be it in terms of housing type, urban density or transportation.
*            Tackling urban challenges as long-term processes and not as short-term problems.

For more practical ideas and potential successes that could shape South African cities, read Gerald Garner’s article on page 50 and share in some prominent people’s perspectives on the future of our cities on page 44.

In addition to special contributions for our anniversary, you can read about the redevelopment of Thesen Islands in Knysna (see page 30) and water expert Dr Jo Barnes of the University of Stellenbosch writes about the challenges of managing our urban rivers on page 38.

The 20th century American city: 10 successes
•            Provision of pure water and effective sewage treatment.
•            The isolation of dangerous and disharmonious land uses.
•            The abolition of corrupt ‘boss’ governments
•            Development of integrated roadway systems.
•            The electrification of cities and regions.
•            The advent of universal communications.
•            The widespread extension of home ownership.
•            The realization of metropolitan and regional park systems.
•            The control of land subdivision.
•            The environmental movement.
Source: Planning Commissioners Journal, no 38, Spring 2000.

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LETTERS

A better environment
– Anton Comrie, landscape architect at Green Inc and co-founder of Urban Green File.

It’s March 1996 in Green Inc’s office in Parktown North, Johannesburg: shrouded in heaps of freshly printed Green Files and the realisation that the first eyes will see this new information journal tomorrow!

How will this humble piece of print media, no thicker than a serviette, be accepted? Are people working in the urban environment ready for a journal that faces the perceptions, facts and challenges of rapid urbanisation in South Africa? We never dreamt that it would grow into such an influential and respected journal!

Things of now
It’s February 2006. Through 10 years of continuously covering issues affecting integrated planning and environmental issues, Urban Green File has seen the urban environment change. Dreams of living city centres are starting to become reality. Integrated planning through urban design, architecture and landscape architecture is starting to change the urban landscape into a place of social, environmental and economic interaction as opposed to segregation.

Things of the future
Many challenges remain. Environmental responsibility is still largely lacking. Our urban rivers are being destroyed by increased run-off and leaking sewerage systems. Our pedestrians still don’t have sidewalks while gated communities and security precincts are slicing up our cities into economic enclaves or mini “volkstate”. And our neighbourhoods often still have no heart. We know that the Urban Green File team will continue to be responsive, visionary and our companion in the quest for a better environment for all!

Healthy criticism
– Graham Young, landscape architect at Newtown LA and lecturer at the University of Pretoria

Congratulations on achieving your 10th anniversary! Urban Green File (UGF) started with humble beginnings as Green File but has evolved into an important industry journal. What has impressed me is that the journal has ‘stayed its course’ and not yielded to an ‘advertorial’ style that so many of the other industry journals have done due to advertising pressure.

UGF originally filled a niche that had not been exploited before – a more ‘holistic’ understanding of environmental, planning and design issues and how they relate to and integrate with each other.

UGF’s editorial tried to reflect a truer vision of the collective reality that we as practitioners find ourselves faced with in the practice of our individual professions. I believe it has achieved a good balance between environmental (green) and urban (brown) issues.

The journal also managed to stimulate debate in the environmental and design fields and has challenged some of our urban design, architectural and landscape responses to the environment.

I would however like to see more of this type of critique. Healthy criticism is always good and should ultimately lead to better design and sensitive environmental responses.

After 10 years UGF remains ‘fresh’, with a ‘look’ that stands out from other industry journals. Well done! And may the journal continue to grow and evolve over the next 10 years.

Publishing excellence
– Erika van den Berg, landscape architect and co-founder of Urban Green File.

A group of young idealistic landscape architects had a mission 10 years ago: to create a magazine on the cutting edge of all facets and the professions dealing with and involved in the planning and design of the built environment.

In those early years, the mission fortunately overruled all obstacles, financial and otherwise, and a mouthpiece for the urban landscape was created in what has become known as Urban Green File.

The main objectives of the magazine remain:
•            to showcase projects with integrated planning by all professionals required for a specific project;
•            to expose poor planning and design;
•            to stimulate debate and create dialogue on all issues relating to the urban environment;
•            to keep readers abreast of state-of-the-art local and international planning and design; and
•            to encourage creative thinking towards the establishment of a true African (and South African) development and design style.

To attain these objectives is a major undertaking for each edition published. I congratulate Urban Green File on what it has achieved during the first 10 years of its existence and on establishing itself as a front-runner in the field.

Part of the future role of the magazine is to remain a watchdog over and a custodian of the urban environment.

I wish Urban Green File the best of luck in all its endeavours for the future and in keeping the original vision alive.

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10 YEARS OF PUBLISHING

Looking back over the years
It’s been 10 years since our first edition so Urban Green File is entering its 11th year of publishing this month – a feat that has not been achieved by many other environmental and/or planning magazines.

Now in its 11th year of publishing, Urban Green File’s first 10 years have sped by faster than anyone could have imagined.

A lot has been accomplished since the publication of our first edition (comprising only eight pages!) in April 1996.

In the current edition, Urban Green File celebrates its first decade of publishing. It awards Inspiration and Insult of the Decade (articles on pages 12 and 15), revisits significant ‘burbs, and takes a peek into the future of our cities. However an anniversary edition would be incomplete without recapping the highs and lows of our publishing history.

1996
March 1996
Landscape architects Anton Comrie (co-founder of Green Inc) and Gerald Garner realise the need for a fresh and cutting-edge urban and landscape design publication.

April 1996
The first edition of Green File is produced aimed at promoting cuttingedge urban design, architecture and landscape architecture, and as a corporate newsletter for Green Inc. Industry suppliers finance production costs by advertising in the ‘magazine’ – our first advertiser was Grinaker-Precast (today known as Infraset).

The first edition is actually a publishing ‘disaster’ with new print and reproduction technology causing havoc: words run into each other and readers struggle through sentences with up to six words joined without any spaces between them.

June 1996
In its second edition (16 pages), Green File announces that it is now published independently, thereby enabling the magazine to write objectively about design and planning issues – the magazine will no longer promote the Green Inc brand.

August 1996
Green File begins to develop a reputation for carrying critique and debate – a welcome departure from the stale trade journals of the day. The August edition carries opinion articles by architect Henning Rasmuss and landscape architect Graham Young.

October 1996
Soft Brick Media – a publishing company – is established as a parent body for Green File. The members of the close corporation are Gerald Garner, Stuart Glen, Erika van den Berg and Anton Comrie.

December 1996
Carol Knoll joins the magazine as associate editor and later becomes a shareholder.

1997
February 1997
Green File moves out of Green Inc’s offices and into its own office in Greenside (a coincidence!), Johannesburg.

April 1997
The masthead design and name are changed to remove the brand association with Green Inc: ‘urban’ is added to the title to distinguish it from nature-conservation journals.

This magazine focuses on urban environmental planning, looking at ‘brown’ and ‘green’ issues; dealing with tension between development and the environment; and looking for harmonious solutions.

August 1997
Urban Green File grows from eight to 32 pages; begins to enjoy a loyal readership and advertising support; introduces its website www.urbangreen.co.za with a subscriber password.

1998
February 1998
A spectacular cover of the new visitor facilities on Table Mountain, but the photograph is reversed during scanning and we receive numerous calls asking why Bloubergstrand is now in Muizenberg!

April 1998
The magazine grows to 40 pages.

June 1998
The Townscape Millennium Public Spaces Competition draws nationwide interest from local councils and landowners of squares, streets, parks and campuses, among others.

August 1998
The competition’s first finalists are published.

October 1998
Urban Green File moves to bigger premises in Auckland Park, Johannesburg.

10 Favourite articles
Publisher Gerald Garner has selected his 10 favourite articles of the last decade.
These are listed in chronological order since 1996.

1 Interview with Pallo Jordan
– South Africa’s first  Minister of Environmental Affairs & Tourism in South Africa’s first democraticallyelected government, published in the September/October 1996 edition.

2 Insult – Desert-like parking areas in the July/August 1997 edition. The insult was given to two shopping centres in Fourways, Johannesburg, constructed without any trees on their parking lots. Within a month after publication, the one parking lot had large trees planted!

3 Taking tourists to the Table Top. In its January/February 1998 edition, Urban Green File looked at the provision of a new cable-car system and visitors’ facilities on environmentally- sensitive Table Mountain.

4 A campus rooted in Africa. In November/December 2000, Urban Green File published an article on the design of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, Illovo Boulevard, Johannesburg.

5 Sustainable building design involving bricks from sludge. Urban Green File’s article in November/December 2001 detailed plans to build an exhibition centre for the World Summit on Sustainable Development – it would have been built from recycled sludge but, unfortunately, the project was never implemented.

6 Inspiration – a magic carpet. In September/October 2002, Henning Rasmuss awarded the Inspiration Award to the revamped SA Eagle Square in Hollard Street, Johannesburg.

7 Inspiration – painting these walls red and more. In January/February 2003, Henning Rasmuss wrote about the introduction of large artworks on building facades all over the centre of Johannesburg.

8 Freedom Park – a landscape narrative of South Africa’s history and heritage.

Urban Green File’s May/June 2004 edition detailed the first phase of this remarkable landscape-design project.

9 Battle of the ‘burbs – Melville v Parkview. The comparison of these suburbs in Urban Green File’s June 2005 edition indicates just how crucial continued planning and management is for the upkeep of city precincts.

10 Battle of the ‘burbs – Beirut (Mabopane) v Lotus Gardens X2. Urban Green File’s December 2005 edition uncovers a hidden gem – a well-established ‘township’ showing qualities of proper urban planning and design.

1999
April 1999
Founding shareholder Erika van den Berg, who has played a leading role in the establishment of the magazine and in particular its readership database, opts out of the business, albeit remaining as a loyal supporter eight years later.

August 1999
The winners of the Townscape Millennium Public Spaces Competition are announced.

Overall winner and winner in the category ‘parks and conservation areas charging an entrance fee’: Tswaing Crater Museum.
Larger parks: Burgers Park
Pocket parks: Mai Mai Play Space
Squares and streets:  St George’s Mall
Nature conservation areas: Hornlee Community Park
Campuses: Peninsula Technikon

2000
June 2000
Urban Green File’s parent company Soft Brick Media becomes a subsidiary of Brooke Pattrick Publications and is renamed Brooke Pattrick Environmental.

Brooke Pattrick’s magazine Urban Management (erstwhile Municipal Engineer) is incorporated into Urban Green File.

Shareholders in Soft Brick Media, Stuart Glen and Anton Comrie, opt out during the formation of Brooke Pattrick Environmental to focus on their landscape architecture practice.

December 2000
Brooke Pattrick Environmental moves to new premises in Westdene, Johannesburg.

2001
October 2001
Brooke Pattrick Environmental and Brooke Pattrick Publications merge into one company.

Publisher Gerald Garner becomes publisher of the newly merged Brooke Pattrick Publications after Resource Publications had earlier also been amalgamated into the group.

Carol Knoll sells her shares in Brooke Pattrick Environmental when it merges with Brooke Pattrick Publications.

Urban Green File starts giving extensive coverage to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.

2002
August 2002
A bumper edition (276 pages) of Urban Green File in joint venture with UK magazine Sustainable Development International – this Business & Sustainable Development publication coincides with the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Unusual for a business-to-business magazine, this edition is available at book stores.

Urban Green File repeats its 2002 success at the Sappi PICA Awards by winning environmental and architectural awards.

Urban Green File changes its graphic-design style to stay in touch with contemporary information design trends.

2003
Urban Green File  repeats its 2002 success at the Sappi PICA Awards by winning environmental and architectural awards.

2004
Urban Green File changes its graphic-design style to stay in touch with contemporary information design trends.

2005
April 2005
Long-standing editor Carol Knoll resigns from Urban Green File.
Regular contributor Leigh Darroll also leaves the magazine.
Brooke Pattrick Publications moves to new offices in Pinewood Office Park, Woodmead, Johannesburg.

June 2005
Engela Meyer – professionally-registered town and regional planner – takes over as editor. Together with publisher Gerald Garner, they reintroduce some old favourites to the magazine – these include the Inspiration and Insult awards as well as the Battle of the ‘burbs. They also announce a slight refocusing of the magazine as, over the years, Urban Green File had steered slightly from its mission and focused too much on nature conservation and general environmental issues not directly linked to the city environment.

The magazine introduces the pay-off line Journal for the planning professions. Urban Green File is the journal for the custodians, planners, designers and managers of the urban environment – municipal managers, local government officials, owners of large urban properties as well as consultants such as urban designers, town planners, architects, landscape architects and civil engineers.

December 2005
When Urban Green File launched in 1996 the concept of sustainability, in terms of construction or urban planning and management, was not yet a buzz word. The whole concept of integrating environmental issues into planning and design was still in its infancy.

But on the cover of its December 2006 edition, Urban Green File carried the regional winners of the International Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction. By now, sustainability has become a well-known concept and every industry is aiming to become more sustainable!

Highlight of the decade?
Probably the overwhelming response for our Millennium Public Spaces Competition. Urban Green File plans to run a similar competition in 2007. Watch future editions for information on how to enter!

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UPFRONT

‘Bad’ buildings
Judge Mahomed Jajbhay ruled on March 3, 2006 that the eviction of 300 inner-Johannesburg residents was unconstitutional as it violated the right of the poor to access housing. He ordered the city's municipal authorities to draw up a comprehensive plan to cater for people living in "bad buildings" in Johannesburg's CBD, if the city wants to evict them.

The Minister of Public Works, Stella Sigcau, has signed the Construction Charter into operation – it seeks to give direction and defined targets to the transformation of established construction and consulting businesses, and attempts to ensure emerging or developing businesses are given sufficient support and assistance in developing operational and financial capacity so that they can grow and create their own ownership structures.

Top adviser
Environmental Resources Management (ERM), reputedly the world’s largest all-environmental consultancy, has won the 2006 Environmental Adviser of the Year title. This is the second year running that ERM has won this coveted award.

Five of the nine projects in the R128-million Mitchell’s Plain Public Transport Interchange and CBD upgrade are either completely or nearly finished. Four projects still in the pipeline include the southern terminal, a link to the promenade, a new parking area and further town-centre upgrading.

Construction charter
The Minister of Public Works, Stella Sigcau, has signed the Construction Charter into operation – it seeks to give direction and defined targets to the transformation of established construction and consulting businesses, and attempts to ensure emerging or developing businesses are given sufficient support and assistance in developing operational and financial capacity so that they can grow and create their own ownership structures.

Plain upgrade
Five of the nine projects in the R128-million Mitchell’s Plain Public Transport Interchange and CBD upgrade are either completely or nearly finished. Four projects still in the pipeline include the southern terminal, a link to the promenade, a new parking area and further town-centre upgrading.

Energy-wise
During March, the Department of Minerals and Energy, in partnership with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and Eskom, launched the Energy Efficiency Campaign for 2006 and Beyond (EEM2006+). The campaign, themed It’s in your power, aims to create awareness of the inherent benefits to all levels of South African society when users change their attitudes and behaviour to become ‘wiser’ consumers of energy.

Environment assessors
While amendments to the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 in 2004 have made provision for Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk to appoint associations as ‘registering authorities’ for environmental assessment practitioners, to date there have been no mandatory registration or certification requirements for individuals conducting environmental impact assessments.

A voluntary system, including an agreed process and criteria for certification, has been in place since 2001 through the establishment of the Interim Certification Board.

In November 2005, a broad consultative process on the establishment of a registration authority was launched.

For more information, contact Glaudin Kruger at kruger@kruger-associates.com  or visit www.eapsa.co.za.

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INSPIRATION OF THE DECADE

Top of the decade!
Which project has impressed us most in our 10 years of existence? Which intervention should be awarded Inspiration of the Decade status?

A project in Milpark, Johannesburg, illustrates what good urban planning and design is all about. A once derelict and disused industrial space has been refurbished into a thriving office and retail precinct. This, in turn, has sparked the conversion of surrounding industrial buildings into loft apartments.

The project’s impact as a catalyst for urban regeneration is massive: a large-scale development of new residential apartments is underway across the street while an adjacent, mothballed shopping centre, located underground, is also due for refurbishment and reopening.

The property on 44 Stanley Avenue is inspirational in the way that its owners, Brian Green and Mark Bachelor, have managed to blow new life into a derelict space – and that with minimum intervention.

There are no follies, no glamorously tiled facades – only earthy and natural materials.

The result: the integrity of the original architecture has been preserved.

On the most recent visit in mid-March 2006, Urban Green File found that the trees introduced only two years ago were maturing, adding a new dimension to the courtyard spaces between the buildings.

A combination of exotic leopard trees and indigenous olives (Olea europaea subs africana) works well, providing shade and greenery but acting as architectural elements in their own right.

Urban Green File initially published an article on 44 Stanley Avenue in the May/June 2004 edition and it was featured in sister journal Building Africa last year.

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INSULT OF THE DECADE

Urban river polution
Grossly polluted rivers and streams are a fact of life for the inhabitants of most urban informal settlements, thereby increasing the risk of disease and diminishing quality of life.

The sight and smell of grossly polluted rivers and streams as they wind their way through urban areas comes as a shock to those lucky enough to live a considerable distance away. But for the inhabitants of most of the urban informal settlements, this degraded environment is a daily fact of life, increasing the risk of disease and diminishing their quality of life.

In the developing world, pollution is increasing rapidly with urbanisation and industrialization while most of these countries have very limited experience of pollution control measures or of the institutional and legislative frameworks needed to make such measures effective.

Water-pollution control is clearly one of the most critical challenges facing South Africa in the coming decades. Without urgent and properly directed action, we will face mounting problems of disease, environmental degradation and economic stagnation as precious water resources become more and more contaminated.

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PLANNING PERSONALITY

Nomvula Mokonyane’s plan for sustainability
Towards sustainable settlements
Nomvula Mokonyane has the tremendous task of housing the fastgrowing population of Gauteng. Edith Webster uncovered her plans for sustainable settlement development.

Judging by the number of informal settlements scattered around South Africa’s most densely populated province, housing is the greatest challenge the Gauteng government has to face every day.

Housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane says her department is responding to this high demand for formal accommodation with the National Comprehensive Human Settlement Plan.

Breaking new ground
Also known as ‘Breaking New Ground’, this plan involves the establishment of “sustainable communities by getting rid of informal settlements by 2014”, according to Mokonyane.

“Over the next five years we will formalise all existing informal settlements that are situated on safe, habitable and well-located land,” she explains.

“This will entail providing security of tenure, issuing of title deeds, providing water and sanitation and electricity and, where necessary, building schools, clinics and recreational facilities along with other social amenities.”

The Gauteng Department of Housing has established that the province has 392 informal settlements – about 70% of these could potentially be upgraded into formal dwellings while the rest will require the resettlement of residents on ‘well-located land’. In the past year, the department has serviced more than 34 000 stands and constructed 15 000 houses throughout the province of Gauteng.

The housing department plans to service 23 121 stands during 2006/7 as part of the aim to upgrade ‘identified’ informal settlements, build 35 829 housing units, and provide 200 000 stands with ‘top structure’.

Reviving townships
Mokonyane’s team is also upgrading 20 ‘old’, established townships – government has pledged R3-billion towards this end with the ultimate goal being “to build better communities and upgrade local social and economic infrastructure”.

The registration of backyard shacks in 10 of these 20 townships has already begun; so far, captured data shows about 44 072 households and 75 362 backyard shacks exist there.

As part of the upgrading of backyard shacks in these townships, the housing department has begun a pilot project in Orlando East, Soweto, and Boipatong where 1 500 stands are being upgraded to establish three-roomed homes of 11 m˛, including a shower and toilet of 3 m˛, scheduled for completion in February 2007.
In Munsiville, a comprehensive redevelopment plan is underway, comprising hostel redevelopment, the building of 475 houses within ‘buffer strip land’; upgrading of about 400 backyard shacks in Horse Shoe; installation of chemical toilets, communal facilities and services; and the construction of 698 houses in extensions 4 and 5 by April 2008.

In this way, the department hopes to address:
•            densities in the backyards of all the townships;
•            the infrastructure capacity and its upgrading requirements;
•            the provision of services (including water and electricity) to backyards;
•            ‘de-densification’, densification and relocation;
•            regularisation of relations between landlords and tenants;
•            the need for ‘social facilities’ like multipurpose centers and other recreational facilities; and
•           the requirement of ‘economic facilities’ such as small business centres to create business opportunities.

Sense of urgency
Township hostels have been segmented into seven ‘geographic clusters’ so that they can ultimately be converted into ‘affordable rental accommodation’.

Sensing the urgent need, the department has also undertaken ‘emergency interventions’ at 54 hostels, which had to be upgraded and converted to be made habitable and sustainable immediately.

Five of these hostels have been converted into ‘family units’ – another eight have been earmarked for the same in areas such as Diepkloof, Alexandra, Mamelodi and Buyafuthi.

“We are certain that we will be able to reach our target of rehabilitating all our hostels by 2009,” Mokonyane points out.

Quality vs quantity
“Besides this, we have diversified the type of housing products so that we can cater for different market needs – people now have a choice between ‘low-cost housing’, ‘rental’, ‘rent-to-buy’, and ‘instalment sale’ or ‘mortgage scheme’,” she adds. “The commitment of government has moved beyond building a quantitative number of houses to focusing on quality.”

The rules include: no developer may build a house of less than 36 m˛; no toilets may be built outside houses in Gauteng after April 2006; all building materials must be approved by the South African Bureau of Standards; and every housing project must be registered with the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC).

Innovation in mind
The Gauteng Department of Housing is also involved in the public-private Gauteng Partnership Fund agency, tasked with, among others, the improvement of residential buildings as well as the construction of inner-city homes. This initiative plans to spend R107-million on ‘social housing’ in 2006/7.
Projects include:
•            Brickfields launched in August 2005 as one of the ‘largest ever’ public private partnership housing developments in South Africa with a total of 1 400 units. “Being one of the government’s objectives to diversify housing products by promoting rental stock, Brickfields achieves this since the monthly rental ranges from R1 200 for a one-bedroom to R2 300 for a three-bedroom house,” says Mokonyane.
•            The second phase of the Brickfields project, comprising 754 units, is due to be completed between the months of April and May this year.
•            Olievenhoutbosch (officially known as the Olievenhoutbosch Ministerial Housing Project, a Gauteng integrated ministerial pilot project) initiated to further the aims of the Breaking New Ground strategy and to establish ‘quality living environments’ and in turn promote ‘non-racial, integrated societies’. This R400-million ‘high-quality, mixed-income’ housing project was launched as a joint venture between Absa, the National Department of Housing and the City of Tshwane in February 2006. It will include 3 472 houses (1 168 ‘bonded’, 3 049 ‘subsidised’ and 1 263 ‘rental’); industrial and commercial sites; three schools; two clinics; open space; and religious buildings.
•            Cosmo City in northern Johannesburg to, as Mokonyane puts it, “deracialise human settlement and diversify housing products which gives our people a wide scope of choice”. This ‘mixed-income’ housing project is on track with almost 1 245 houses completed at the time of going to press. Some 1 475 low-cost houses had been handed over to their owners; 400 bonded units were being constructed; and occupation had begun in December 2005. Plans include the construction of about 5 000 ‘low-cost’ units by November 2007.

Less speed
Mokonyane realises that the Gauteng ‘waiting list’ is critical but she has to keep the quality of housing top of mind. To this end, Mokonyane’s housing department is working with the NHBRC on ‘alternative building technology’ in a pilot project at Thorntree View in Tshwane.

Mokonyane’s career

Birthplace: Kagiso, Gauteng
Education:
•            Masupatsela High School
•            Local government, planning management and community development  training in Sweden
•            Certificate course in emerging economics, Wharton Business School, Pennsylvania University, USA
•            Leadership and governance, Harvard University, USA
Political affiliations and appointments:
•            Young Christian Students member
•            Congress of South African Students founder member
•            United Democratic Front Krugersdorp branch publicity secretary
•            Federation of Transvaal Women organizer
•            Involved in reestablishment of ANC and SACP structures
•            ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee member
•            ANC Women’s League national executive committee and national working committee member
•            SACP central committee member Gauteng legislature member (chairperson of standing committee on housing and local government)
•            Gauteng MEC for agriculture, conservation and environment in 1996
•            Gauteng MEC for safety and liaison in 1999
Personal:
Married mother of three children

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‘BURBS OF THE DECADE

Praiseworthy suburbs
City Bowl, Cape Town
The ultimate ‘burb in 1997’s battle of the ‘burbs was the City Bowl in Cape Town. Contributor Peter Dayson described it as “the area nestling up to the breast of Table Mountain”.

According to Dayson, the City Bowl reflected Cape Town’s character of a ‘renaissance’ city through the spontaneous upgrading, rejuvenation and restoration that took place in the area in 1997. This is still the case and the ‘burb is more vibrant than ever.

The City Bowl offers a variety of residential options: from loft apartments to terraced houses and free standing properties with large gardens. In typical ‘rainbow nation’-style, the area is home to people of all ages, races and lifestyles. Architectural diversity abounds.

To live and work in the City Bowl is to enjoy a pedestrian lifestyle – a major benefit considering parking and traffic challenges within the ‘Mother City’. Another obviously positive aspect is access to all sorts of recreational activities, be it exploring the city life in ‘vibey’ restaurants and clubs or doing the outdoor ‘thing’ by hiking up the mountain.

The only concern raised by Dayson in the original article was the sad face of poverty visible in street kids and the homeless. That has not changed over the past eight years and, even worse, crime has increased in this suburb.

Parkhurst, Johannesburg
For our 10th anniversary edition, the Urban Green File team selected three ’burbs we find truly exemplary.

Quaint antique shops, restaurants and houses within Johannesburg’s Parkhurst ‘burb are attractive not only to local residents but also other Jo’burgers out for a good time.

The small suburb of Parkhurst was selected as the ultimate ‘burb for 1996 and was featured in the January/ February 1997 edition of Urban Green File.

According to contributor Anton Comrie, walking down the ‘quiet’ streets of Parkhurst brings to mind a village in the countryside. The street blocks are small and each with eight to 10 properties of no more than 600 m˛. The small courtyardtype gardens are detailed and sustainable.

The community seems ‘alive’ and there is integration between old and young. The small-sized erven and accompanying medium to higher densities definitely contribute to a more human scale and a closeknit community.

Parkhurst is easily accessible from both the Johannesburg city centre and the northern suburbs’ shopping and office nodes.

The area is clean and can be regarded as a good example of high-density living without compromising on quality of life. One aspect raised as a point of concern (and maybe a potential opportunity) in 1997 was the exclusion of the Braamfontein Spruit from the rest of the suburb. Urban Green File intends to follow up on this issue.

Beirut, Tshwane
In December 2005, Urban Green File contributor Annemarie Loots visited Beirut, a township in the northern part of the city of Tshwane. Situated between the more formal area of Mabopane to the west and the vast expanse of informal settlements on the Winterveld Agricultural Holdings to the east and north, Beirut was established and constructed in 1986 as a fully-serviced township by the former Bophuthatswana government. The average erf size is approximately 280 m˛.

Beirut has a charming character, quite uncommon in South Africa’s low-income areas. This could, for one, be attributed to a decidedly pedestrian focus with pedestrian access lanes forming an integral part of the design. The curvilinear layout of the township also contributes to accessibility.

The development boasts a healthy mix of single, detached houses as well as double-storey attached apartments. Blocks are relatively small. The placement of buildings encloses the streets and creates a strong sense of three-dimensional street space. Large trees also contribute to spatial definition of the street. Building design further responds positively to the street corners and thus creates well-defined space and a sense of place on corners.

Although the public domain is not exceptionally well tended, this is not so noticeable due to a few large trees dominating the street space, the human scale of the public domain and the strong visual emphasis on houses lining the streets.

The lively streets reflect a definite sense of community. The absence of high boundary walls and the design of the interface between public and private space promotes informal surveillance of the area.

Beirut has the qualities of a vibrant and charming suburb contributing towards a unique sense of place.

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CITY VISIT

Potential outweighs perception
Motorists passing Witbank on the N4 cannot be blamed for their perception of a polluted, densely-populated settlement.

When you hear ‘Witbank’, you may immediately recall sensational newspaper headlines about the city. Yet, when Eric Parker, head of spatial planning and housing at the Emalahleni Local Municipality speaks about his “town”, the picture is altogether different. His enthusiasm is actually infectious.

From the very beginning, Witbank has had a narrow-based economy centred on coal, electricity and steel production. Over the years, the growth of the city has happened in leaps and bounds, with the last major upswing in the 1980s when many power stations were built.

However, development was mainly residential based and was often dictated by mine owners and Eskom as owner of the power stations.

These institutions provided housing and supporting social facilities for their (mostly ‘blue-collar’) workers. Retail and other developments in the services sectors were low-key.

More recently, changes to the way both Eskom and the mines operate have contributed to a change in Witbank’s character. Houses owned by the mines and Eskom were privatised thus encouraging stable growth. New economic opportunities have consequently begun emerging.

The town is now not only experiencing a boom in retail development (in excess of 60 000 m˛ is under construction) but the ‘upper-class’ housing market is also growing rapidly. Apart from managing these formal developments, the local municipality is also faced with the major challenge of accommodating ever-growing informal settlements in more formalised structures.

About Witbank
The name ‘Witbank’ is derived from the Afrikaans words for an outcrop of white sandstone where wagons outspanned in days gone by. The first permanent settlement was established in 1890. Early attempts to exploit coal deposits failed until the railway line from Pretoria reached the area in 1894. The town of Witbank was officially proclaimed in 1903 and was declared a municipality in 1914. In 2000, it became part of the Emalahleni Local Municipality, together with Ogies, Kriel and four other power stations. Witbank is the major service centre in the municipality and is also regarded as the centre of the coal mining industry in South Africa. It is also important in the steel and power-generation sectors.

The Witbank complex has a total population of 189 909 people (2001 census statistics).

The city is strategically located on the Maputo Development Corridor. This is a transcontinental initiative, with the aim of creating strategic linkages for trade and tourism between Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia by linking Maputo on the Mozambican coast with Walvis Bay on the Namibian coast.The N4 freeway and railway line form part of the corridor and enhance connectivity to the east (Nelspruit) and west (Pretoria).The N4 to Pretoria splits at Witbank with one road continuing to Pretoria and the second continuing to Johannesburg (N12).

Enkanini & Emsagweni – a provincial priority project 1
After the new political dispensation came into being, all efforts were focused on integrating cities that had been deliberately segregated on racial lines in the past – as was Witbank. Although developable land was available directly to the west of Kwa-Guqa, no preparations were made to develop this valuable piece of land due to the cost of service provision and a desire not to aggravate the segregation of western communities from the centre of Witbank.

All means possible were explored to bring Kwa-Guqa and Witbank closer to each other rather than further apart. Yet, over recent years, squatter settlements have mushroomed on open land west of Kwa-Guqa and there are now about 6 000 shacks. This area was one of the lowest priorities on the list, compiled by the local municipality, for relocation and formalisation of all informal settlements in the Witbank complex. Yet the informal settlement has tremendous visual impact (in terms of smog and visual blight) on the image of Witbank and the province of Mpumalanga, as a whole, as it lies at the western entrance to both. It became a provincial priority and was consequently considered for redevelopment ahead of some of the higher priorities within the Witbank complex.

The area has the potential for 12 000 stands at an average size of 300 m˛. Tenders have been received for a spatial framework for the entire area, as well as detailed planning for the first 3 000 stands. Consideration will also be given to accommodating various types of housing and densities according to the latest national housing policies.

Tasbet Park Social Housing – a presidential pilot project
The project began with EuroAm submitting a request to the local municipality for a 3 000-unit integrated, high-density project. The intention was to use subsidy money for gearing in order to have more money available for development of high-density, residential, rental units. An old council-owned township (Duvha Park X1), which was originally laid out with 1 000 m˛ stands, was identified, rezoned, consolidated, replanned and subdivided again to accommodate the social housing development project. This concept was, however, eclipsed by the award of a presidential job-creation project and ended up as high-profile with a total of 5 000 planned units. The development was used as a pilot project in order to rewrite the housing policy both nationally and in Mpumalanga. Some 1 000 units have been built, including detached houses, row houses and stacked simplexes.

One of the major advantages of the development is the involvement of Absa as a private banking partner, which is now also in a position to provide loans for residents interested in buying units. The second part of the development will have an even bigger focus on sales and will most probably include a larger focus on houses to be sold individually.

Klarinet/Blesboklaagte – development within a framework
The Klarinet development is situated northwest of Witbank, adjacent to the original ’Indian’ township of Pineridge. The area accommodates the aerodrome, the municipal dumping site, the abattoir and industrial developments. A spatial framework for the area was compiled in 2005. The potential for approximately 13 000 residential stands could then be realised. The first phase of about 2 000 stands has been completed with RDP-style housing. A further 2 300 stands are ready for servicing. One of the biggest problems in getting this development off the ground is acquiring land for development including unique problems such as the tracing of original owners of some land parcels. The bulk of the land for the first phase is being expropriated.

Bankenveld Estate – the name says it all
This is the first, really ‘upmarket’, security development in Witbank. It is situated to the southeast of the city, on the western banks of the Witbank Dam. The development attracts people working as far afield as Pretoria and Johannesburg, searching for a more peaceful lifestyle. Some of the residential erven in the area have been sold for more than R850 000.

Tswelopele Junction – progress in zero-pollutant industries
An area behind the casino is being developed into an office and industrial park. The focus will fall on zero-pollutant, commercial and industrial use. This is an attempt to broaden the economic base of the city by providing new land with development and location opportunities. The development will be subject to a ‘green’ contract to be signed by all occupants.

Other good news stories
The list of other good news stories is endless, but space only permits two to be highlighted:

Firstly, Witbank Council was financially ‘in the red’ for many years but is now functioning from a positive cash-flow base. This is mainly the result of actively collecting rates and taxes in areas where collection was not taking place. Prepaid electricity meters have also been installed and tampering with equipment is strictly monitored. The local municipality takes a strong stand against people not paying and has introduced programmes aimed at encouraging consistent payment. The town is reaping the fruits of concerted efforts to the extent that, in 2005, the Emalahleni Local Municipality won the provincial VUNA award for local authority excellence. Secondly, a renewal study for the CBD as the heart of the city is underway.

Though the centre of ‘town’ has seen a tremendous change in character over the past few years, it is still functioning. Yet there is a need to determine specific economic potential and niche markets for the CBD. Although certain investment incentives are already applicable on development there, the intention is to refine and expand these incentives based on the outcome of the study. Investment incentives from National Treasury are also expected to be announced soon.

Working towards sustainability
From an environmental perspective, Witbank seems to have ‘got a grip’ on industrial pollution with drastic improvements in air quality over the last few years. Highveld Steel – previously one of the biggest polluters in the area – is attending to its environmental reputation with positive results.

The biggest polluter is now the burning of coal for residential use (heating and cooking), with smog in low-income areas reaching unbearable levels, especially during winter months.

To combat this, the municipality is busy with electrification plans in these areas. Some community organisations have also embarked on education campaigns to teach people how to burn coal, which could release a lot less smoke if it is burned correctly.

A 100-year mining legacy has created certain environmental quality challenges:

Rain and surface water enter some old underground workings, leaking out as acid mine drainage in low lying areas. In order to manage this situation, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) is collecting seepage and correcting the pH levels before releasing water into the rivers.

Another problem is fire within undermined areas causing sinkholes and posing a threat to nearby informal settlements. Residents sometimes recover coal from old dumps under very unsafe conditions. Remedial action is expensive and not the direct responsibility of the Emalahleni Municipality. The municipality does, however, prevent the expansion of settlements towards hazardous areas. Informal settlements located in or close to these areas are on the priority list for relocation. To address this issue in an integrated manner, DWAF and the Department of Minerals and Energy is busy conducting a number of pilot studies at one of the mines. The aim is to find economically-feasible methods to secure or rehabilitate old undermined and collapsing areas.

Over the years, mining and industrial activities have caused significant damage to the natural environment of Witbank, resulting in low aesthetic quality. Conservation of natural resources has therefore been set at high priority to improve this situation. One of the steps in this direction is to earmark the area around the Witbank Dam for residential development with primary focus on conservation of natural resources (an ‘eco village’) or utilisation of agricultural potential (an ‘agri village’). Conservation of natural open space is seen as a major objective. Residential development will thus be allowed in terms of certain criteria and would be seen as a means to an end (namely conservation) and not as an end in itself. It is envisaged that the existing nature reserve adjacent to the dam (containing Rocky Highveld Grassland with associated biodiversity in terms of fauna) will eventually form part of a bigger, green, open space where all development will take into account the value of existing natural resources. Development will be managed with guidelines.

Urban structure
The town of Witbank hovers – like a kite – between land with a high potential for mining and/or undermined land to the west and the green area surrounding the Olifants River and the Witbank Dam in the east. The N4, like the string of the kite, stretches to the west connecting it to the city of Tshwane. It runs through the town, joining it to Nelspruit in the east of Mpumalanga. Almost in the middle of the city, the N12 highway parts from the N4, linking the city directly to Johannesburg. The N4 and N12 cut through the old town of Witbank, disconnecting parts. Like ribbons tied to the string of the kite, two townships are situated next to the N4, to the west of the original town with the closest area being the original black and coloured precinct, while the township furthest away from Witbank is Kwa-Guqa, established for black people in the late 1980s. The Pineridge area floats towards the north west of the town. The structure of the old town of Witbank is characterised by some prominent spines of activity with President Street being the most important. It also provides the main entrance from the N4 highway, linking the Champions Casino with the CBD at opposite ends of the street.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND DESIGN

Thesen transformed
The development of exclusive residential estates often results in controversy, particularly in ecologically-sensitive areas. 

Thesen Islands, located in the heart of the Knysna Lagoon, originally owned by the Thesen family and later acquired by Barloworld, was home to a timber factory and poletreatment plant for many decades. This industry created significant soil, air, noise and traffic pollution – a situation that was of grave concern to the residents of the surrounding communities, and those parties interested in promoting the Knysna area as an ecological and cultural destination.

In 1994, a complete redevelopment of the island was proposed by Chris Mulder Associates Inc (CMAI), and the company spent four years reworking the project until final approval was received in December 1998. The Thesen Islands Development Company was floated, which bought the property from Barloworld, and marketing began in 1999.

The development comprises a 90 ha private estate spread across 19 man-made islands, surrounded by tidal waterways and linked by bridges. It consists of 522 freehold stands, an apartment island (currently under construction), 11 ha of landscaped park, and a commercial and retail centre, Thesen Harbour Town, which is located in the historical heart of the old timber factory area.

As the redevelopment demanded major earthworks for the excavation of the canal system, the provision of infrastructure and the construction of the residential, office and retail components, stringent environmental control measures were imposed throughout the construction process. The development proposal was submitted to local and provincial authorities and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and included an environmental assessment procedure. A Record of Decision (ROD) was issued, including Conditions of Approval for the project that contained 101 carefully-worded requirements covering ecological, social, cultural-historic, aesthetic and engineering aspects.

To address these requirements, the Thesen Islands Environmental Monitoring Committee (TIEMC) was established, with coastal ecologist and environmental consultant, Dr Allan Heydorn, as chairperson.

Pieter Badenhorst, civil engineer and environmental consultant, was appointed as environmental control officer to the project.

The objective of the TIEMC was to ensure strict adherence to all the Conditions of Approval, and to make certain that the redevelopment of the island should be to the benefit, and not the detriment, of the ecology of the Knysna Lagoon.

Heydorn emphasises that, while development cannot be stopped, it must be guided. He notes that poorly planned developments, with profit as their primary objective, frequently contribute to the destruction of the irreplaceable natural, social and cultural resources of the region concerned, whereas soundly planned developments can contribute to the benefits which a region may have to offer, as well as stimulating economic growth and the upliftment of communities.

Addressing public concerns in a sympathetic and rational manner therefore formed part of the mandate of the TIEMC.

It was necessary to communicate that returning the island to its original, natural state was not a financially viable option.

This is because substantial finance was required to relocate the existing timber industry, and clean up the areas of the island that had been chemically contaminated for decades. The solution therefore had to be an economically feasible development that could be realised in a responsible manner.

Members of surrounding communities were involved in certain of the environmental monitoring procedures that took place, including those to do with water quality and bird life.

Planning
Dr Chris Mulder, who headed the project planning and design, says: “The Garden Route does not have large-scale industries driving economic development and spurring job creation. It is dependent on tourism and the construction industry to generate the growth needed to unlock its potential and alleviate widespread poverty.

At the same time, being an environmental treasure house, property development needs to be undertaken with great sensitivity and within strict parameters if its natural beauty is to be protected for future generations.”

Mulder, who holds a doctorate in environmental planning and design from Texas A&M University, designed Thesen Islands on the basis of Traditional Neighbourhood Developments (TND), a movement that started in the US about 10 years ago.

Based on the Smart Growth concept, TNDs focus on the development and sustenance of communities. As such, Thesen Islands was designed as a pedestrianised community with a village centre.

A hierarchy of streets was established – smaller lanes lead off the feeder streets and accommodate access and services, so that the larger streets are flanked by gardens and the more visually pleasing aspects of the homes. Roads are monopitched allowing rainwater runoff to flow into vegetated swales, which act as biological filters. The water is then fed back into the ground, providing natural irrigation for the landscaped areas of the islands. Waste management, sewage and electricity are handled by the Knysna Local Municipality, while the Thesen Islands Homeowners’ Association is responsible for maintenance of the roads and street lighting.

Recycle, reduce, re-use
Before construction could commence, an extensive operation was undertaken to clean up the site, which had been chemically contaminated over a period of about 80 years, and where large stockpiles of timber waste were to be found.

No development was allowed to take place in any affected area, and the lightly contaminated soil was covered with a minimum of 1 m clean fill and reserved for parkland. The site is being monitored on an ongoing basis to test for contamination.

Untreated timber waste had been stockpiled on the island. This was milled into fine pieces and injected with nitrogen and bacteria to create mounds of compost.

Tidal waterways
The existing island was divided into 19 smaller islands, separated by a system of tidal waterways or canals.

During all phases of construction, the environmental health of the canals was closely monitored by Allanson Associates of Knysna, the CSIR and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The results were available for public scrutiny at all times. A computer-generated model of the canal system was also generated by the CSIR to study the flow velocity and circulation of water in order to avoid dead spots or scouring.

A massive cut-to-fill operation was undertaken to excavate the canals. The material thus removed was used to raise the level of the island from 1,2 m to 3 m. Eight dual dewatering systems were used to pump the canals dry enough to build the embankment walls conventionally in stable and controlled conditions. This water (approximately 500 000 l/h) was pumped into a series of settlement dams before being released back into the lagoon via a controlled outlet. The water in the dams was regularly tested for contamination and turbidity in accordance with the Conditions of Approval.

In mid-1999, timber, brick, concrete, and stone gabion trial sections were built on site, to determine the best practical solution for the canal embankments. Gabions were chosen as the most cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing canal edge treatment that complied with the stringent technical and environmental criteria stipulated. These retaining walls consist of thinner, flatter gabions or reno mattresses, set into a prepared canal bed. One or more gabion baskets filled with stone are then laid on the bottom reno mattress, with smaller reno mattresses on top that slope up towards the erven.

This solution permitted a certain degree of flexibility, allowing for different depths of walling, and straight or sloped sides depending on the different conditions and locations of the retaining walls (such as beachfront, waterfront and wetland units).

Ecological benefits
An unforeseen benefit of the use of gabions has been the increased surface area provided for marine organisms by using packed rocks rather than solid walls. According to Heydorn, the aquatic communities that have established themselves on the gabion walls and canal beds act as an effective biological filter, contributing to the excellent water quality in the canals.

Another contributing factor is the redevelopment of the causeway between the island and the mainland. Previously, the causeway had housed only an inadequate culvert, resulting in an interruption of the tidal flow around the island. The natural water circulation was reinstated by the construction of a 25 m bridge spanning the causeway and forming the entrance to Thesen Harbour Town.

The redevelopment of the island required some intrusion into areas containing salt marsh vegetation. As these plants are very important in any estuarine ecosystem, the Conditions of Approval stipulated that, where necessary, this vegetation should be reinstated so that no nett loss is suffered by the lagoon. Badenhorst explains that ‘plug planting’ was initially used to replace the salt marsh plants along the canal edges in the top reno mattresses of the gabion embankment walls. However, a test area of 25 m˛ did not yield particularly impressive results. At a later stage, large sections of sod were used. This affected the construction of the reno mattresses as the sod rows had to be laid on top of the gabion stones before the gabion basket was closed but this method proved to be far more effective and very successful.

Extensive monitoring of swamp bird life has been conducted throughout the project by dedicated members of the Knysna Bird Club. Badenhorst says that, prior to the redevelopment, monitoring was conducted on a very general basis. The project prompted the break down of the monitored area on and around Thesen Island into five sections: E is the area covered by the canals, and A to D are the islands’ surroundings. This allows for far more specific and accurate counting.

Social and economic impact
Heydorn emphasises that it is not sufficient to think only of environmental concerns. The social, cultural and economic effects of any development must also be taken into consideration. Accordingly, the Thesen Islands leadership team enforced a policy of using local suppliers and contractors. Labour statistics were monitored from the outset on a monthly basis in order to compile accurate reports for employment research. Using projection models evaluated and approved by the SA Reserve Bank, it was found that, where it was projected that the development would, by the end of 2004, generate 2 469 ‘man’ years of employment (the employment unit used in socio-economic modelling) it has in actual fact generated 3 342 man years, 35% higher than projected.

Mulder indicates 75% of temporary jobs and 93% of the permanent ones on Thesen Islands are filled by people from Knysna, and about R100-million a year has flowed into the local economy.

Sense of place
Heydorn notes that the cultural-historic heritage of any region is of immense value to its sense of place, the pride of local communities, promotion of tourism, and the unfolding of its economic potential. He explains that Thesen Islands has successfully allowed residential, retail and leisure activities to again take full advantage of Knysna’s greatest asset, the lagoon. Previously this had been hindered by a number of industrial activities (mostly related to timber processing and construction) that had formed a barrier between the residential areas of Knysna and the waterfront.

Every effort was made to preserve an historical record of the previous industry on Thesen Islands, and the South African Heritage Resources Agency was represented on the TIEMC. Buildings more than 60 years old, machinery and landmarks were preserved, such as the timber factory stacks, the facade of the historic Sawtooth building, and the frames of the steel gantries previously used for the handling of logs, which now form part of the housing component known as Gantry Bay. A museum facility to be known as the Discovery Centre, sponsored by Barloworld, is to be established, and will house a comprehensive lagoon database as well as old machinery and other artefacts.

While it is agreed that the client was reasonable in imposing architectural restrictions on the design of residential units for the sake of aesthetic and spatial uniformity, there has been some concern over the density of the development and the ‘style’ imposed. Mulder points out that the massing of the houses was strictly controlled and that once the new trees on the island have established themselves, the area will appear less dense. However, the choice of a ‘British Colonialist Maritime’ motif, popular on the East Coast of America and Australia, and in limited application in Knysna itself, remains in question as an appropriate architectural solution in a country where many architects are redefining their approach in order to explore the possibilities for emerging contemporary South African architecture.

Success story
“One of the greatest successes of this project was the team effort between client, contractor, engineers and environmental consultants,” says Badenhorst. “It shows what can be achieved if the people involved are willing and committed.”

Heydorn agrees: “The Thesen Islands project can justifiably be used as an example of a major development initiative which generated substantial environmental and social benefits, besides economic ones,” he notes. “It was a pleasure and privilege to work with Chris Mulder and his team, who were prepared not to spare any expense or effort to meet the criteria set out in the Conditions of Approval and by the TIEMC.”

Thesen Islands has succeeded in proving a valuable point. Property development, if planned and executed responsibly and with dedication, has the potential for positive influence by conserving the environment, uplifting communities, and preserving the cultural assets of the areas in which it happens.

- Refer to the April 2006 edition of Urban Green File’s sister journal Civil Engineering Contractor for an article on the construction aspects of Thesen Islands.

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WASTE MANAGEMENT & POLLUTION CONTROL

Urban river pollution
Grossly polluted rivers and streams are a fact of life for the inhabitants of most urban informal settlements, thereby increasing the risk of disease and diminishing quality of life.

The sight and smell of grossly polluted rivers and streams as they wind their way through urban areas comes as a shock to those lucky enough to live a considerable distance away. But for the inhabitants of most of the urban informal settlements, this degraded environment is a daily fact of life, increasing the risk of disease and diminishing their quality of life.

In the developing world, pollution is increasing rapidly with urbanisation and industrialization while most of these countries have very limited experience of pollution control measures or of the institutional and legislative frameworks needed to make such measures effective.

Water-pollution control is clearly one of the most critical challenges facing South Africa in the coming decades. Without urgent and properly directed action, we will face mounting problems of disease, environmental degradation and economic stagnation as precious water resources become more and more contaminated.

Water scarcity
South Africa is a semi-arid country and the availability of good-quality fresh water is limited in almost all areas. Rainfall is spread disproportionately in time and space across the country with high evaporation rates contributing to water loss.

Added to these concerns, the impact of anticipated climate change is expected to create areas in, especially the Western Cape, where rainfall will decrease significantly over the coming decades.

There are three main driving forces that govern freshwater supplies in our country: climatic conditions of variable rainfall; rapidly increasing population growth and the economic growth needed to sustain it; and the policies and management of water resources, including those of urban rivers.

It has been forecast that, in the coming decades, water will be a limiting factor in the country's development and the lack of water will be a major restriction on socio-economic growth in the country. It is therefore inconceivable that the present rate of pollution of urban water courses could be allowed to continue unabated.

We can no longer afford to turn urban rivers into sewage ditches – we do not have the water to spare.

Scientists at the University of Cape Town, under the leadership of Prof Maarten de Wit, have calculated that water courses in Africa are highly sensitive to changes in rainfall. Even modest decreases in rainfall will see rivers lose a large proportion of their water flow. A drop of 10% in rainfall over Johannesburg and Bloemfontein would lead to a 70% drop in river levels, the scientists believe.

During the summer months – the dry season in the Boland and peak time for irrigation – the effluent from the Stellenbosch Wastewater Treatment Works contributes up to 85% of flow into the Eerste River below the works. This is due to overabstraction of the Eerste River above the town. Properly treated effluent water has thus become the lifeline of the Eerste River, as for many urban rivers.

The poor operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment works in many parts of South Africa creates a double-headed problem: poorly-treated effluent causes pollution and also deprives rivers of much needed water for their own ecological survival.

Pollution that renders water unfit for drinking or unsuitable for disinfection, either due to safety or economic constraints, has the same effect as reducing water supplies under drought conditions.

Reducing water pollution effectively increases the supply of water therefore safeguarding the quality of water in our rivers presents a major challenge to service delivery as well as water policy in South Africa.

Urban water courses
The rivers flowing through most urban areas have been severely impacted. River channels and river beds have been subjected to canalisation, infilling of river banks, re-routing of river courses and building of mainly informal settlements on the natural flood plains.

The natural vegetation on the riverbanks has been severely affected. Loss of the natural vegetation allowed severe erosion to take place while plantations of thirsty, exotic species such as pine and wattle further reduced the water flows. Encroachment of invasive species in the riverbed slows the flow, thus allowing polluting substances to settle in the sediment from where it re-pollutes the water when churned up by storm-water runoff. In the Cape rivers, for instance, many natural stands of reed beds (Phragmites australus) and palmiet (Prionium serratum) were lost over the years, causing the natural flow regime of these rivers to be severely altered. This resulted in seriously degraded aquatic ecosystems.

Water quality of urban rivers
The microbiological health status of river water is gauged by determining the levels of an organism that occurs naturally in the digestive tract of mammals, called Escherichia coli (E coli). High concentrations of E coli are taken internationally to indicate that such water is contaminated by untreated sewage. Drinking water should contain no E coli organisms, while the safe limit for swimming and other recreational use of rivers is taken to be no more than 400 E coli organisms per 100 ml water. The limit above which the risk of transmission of disease starts rising to unacceptable levels for irrigation water is usually taken internationally to be 1 000 E coli organisms per 100 ml water, while the South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) sets that limit at 2000 E coli organisms per 100 ml water. The National Microbial Monitoring Programme of DWAF works on a cut-off level of 4 000 E coli organisms per 100 ml water before they classify water as carrying increased risk.

The South African standards are more lax than those applying in the international markets where South Africa wants to markets agricultural produce.

The rivers in our urban areas unfortunately regularly measure hundreds of thousands or even millions of E coli organisms per 100 ml water. The Jukskei River in Gauteng has been reported in 2003 to measure 13-million E coli organisms per 100 ml water, while the Umgeni River in KwaZulu-Natal measured up to 1-million E coli organisms per 100 ml water. The Plankenburg River running past Stellenbosch peaked at 560-million E coli organisms per 100 ml water in 2004 and, even in January 2006, the Plankenburg still measured 9-million E coli organisms per 100 ml water. The Berg River below the confluence with the Stiebeuel in Franschhoek measured 92 080 while the storm-water ditches joining the Berg River from the informal settlement of Mbekweni at Paarl measured 2,4-billion E coli organisms per 100 ml water in 2004. Data on microbiological pollution of South African rivers have been extremely difficult to obtain in the public arena over the past three years but these figures are enough to show that our urban rivers and streams are in dire trouble.

Poor water quality
Water quality problems in urban rivers arise from three key sources: domestic and sewage effluents, industrial effluents, and surface (road) runoff. Each of these effluents includes different types of pollutants. Domestic and sewage effluents primarily contribute to the nutrient enrichment of the river system through inputs of nitrogenous and phosphate compounds as well as huge loads of disease-causing organisms. The exact nature of industrial effluents largely depends upon the industrial processes being used. Heavy industrial processes such as metal working, for instance, may create an increase in metal concentrations within the river (including copper, lead, aluminium, iron and cadmium).

Paving and tarring of large surfaces in urban catchments have lead to a severe reduction in water quality of rivers, particularly with the first rains, when oil, litter,decaying material and disease pathogens that accumulated over the dry season are washed into rivers via stormwater runoff.

Increased runoff also magnifies the effects of downpours so these rivers are more inclined to flash flood.

Besides stormwater runoff, water quality is greatly reduced in urban catchments by the deliberate discharge or leakage of sewage effluent into the river system from poorly maintained sewerage pipelines or poorly operated wastewater treatment works.

The other major contributor to the river courses in urban areas is the discharges of huge amounts of untreated sewage and runoff from informal settlements around the cities. While some of these settlements have sprung up over recent years, some of them have been in place for many years while still lacking adequate toilets.

The lack of sanitation provision for these inhabitants, coupled with increased water use in the form of free basic water allocations, has led to large amounts of highly contaminated wastewater and raw sewage making its way to streams and rivers nearby. In some settlements in the

Western Cape, for instance, there are from 60 to 100 people per toilet. There are many areas surrounding our cities where there are no toilets at all and the inhabitants make use of nearby open ground. The runoff from such areas is highly contaminated as well.

The provision of free basic water for most of South Africa's inhabitants did not go hand in hand with a concomitant effort to provide basic sanitation or wastewater treatment. The driving forces behind the provision of free basic water, namely increased hygiene and improved living conditions are thus negated by the lack of provision for adequate disposal once the water had been used. It has been said that over 70% of the water brought into the settlement areas of Cape Town (for example) leave the area in the form of runoff or stormwater and not via the sewerage system of the city. This large volume of water thus enters the environment completely untreated, causing ecological damage as well as greatly increased risk to human health and well-being.

The population of urban poor is increasing faster than service delivery due to urban migration and population increases.

There is a huge backlog in services such as housing and provision of sanitation and clean drinking water in all cities in South Africa. The lack of adequate and timely removal of solid waste causes further seepage from bins and bulk rubbish containers, joining the toxic flow reaching the rivers.

Many local authorities have experienced large turnover of experienced staff in recent years while their responsibilities have greatly increased. As a result of this, the local authorities have been unable to spend their allocated budgets on high quality service delivery or much needed basic infrastructure.

Poor priority setting and inadequate planning due to lack of experience on the part of local politicians resulted in unrealistic budgets and inadequate funding for the essential services needed to keep cities functioning properly.

Knock-on effect
The widespread power failures and rolling ‘black-outs’ experienced in the Western Cape this year, and also in Johannesburg have served as a wake-up call to many local authorities. The sewerage system in the Western Cape metropolitan area relies on pumps to convey the sewage to various wastewater treatment works. These pumps were supposed to be backed up by sumps able to contain sewage during periods of power failure. Without proper power back-up systems and with sump sizes inadequate for the volumes produced during power blackouts, sewage backing up in the system spilled into the stormwater drains in vast quantities.

The extensive sewage spills are at present contaminating the rivers such as the Diep River and natural wetlands around Cape Town such as Zandvlei and Milnerton Lagoon. There have also been reports of raw sewage flowing directly into the sea off one of the Cape's most popular tourist beaches, namely Llandudno. The outfall pipe is situated in the middle of Llandudno beach and the power failures are causing a high health risk to beachgoers and bathers.

The water and sanitation systems of a city are particularly vulnerable to the devastating effects of natural disasters. Earthquakes, floods and large fires can all leave these systems inoperative, resulting in secondary disasters such as outbreaks of disease. Contaminated rivers are very efficient at disseminating disease-causing organisms, especially if that is the only water source available to inhabitants during the crisis. The local authorities in towns and cities all over South Africa should, as a matter of urgency, move beyond meetings and talking about disaster planning and start implementing back-up systems and safeguards to protect their inhabitants.

Health and dirty environments
Human beings can only be healthy in a healthy environment. We cannot isolate ourselves from the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the dwellings and landscapes we inhabit.

Most human activities impact on the environment.

Therefore sanitation systems for disposal and treatment of waste are essential for minimising human impact and creating a sustainable environment. A lack of adequate sanitation, or inadequately maintained or inappropriately designed systems can therefore constitute a range of health risks to humans and animals and pollution risks to the environment, especially the contamination of surface and ground water sources:

Most faecal-oral infections are transmitted on hands and during food preparation, and not only directly through drinking contaminated water. Faeces also provide a fertile environment for many organisms that cause diseases in humans and domestic animals. Any action that prevents faeces from getting onto or into human bodies will help to break the cycle of infection.

Sanitation programmes can have dramatic health benefits because many of the infective organisms are spread from hand-tomouth or from hand-to-food-to-mouth rather than through drinking contaminated water.

Improving hygiene practices and providing sanitation facilities could have a direct effect on a number of important public health problems besetting South Africa. Thus, understanding how infections are transmitted and how to break the cycle of infection are important public health messages. Due to their severely contaminated surroundings, these messages are urgently needed in dense settlements in order to minimise the infections spread among a part of the population already severely affected by the ravages of HIV/Aids, TB and malnutrition.

Diseases associated with contaminated water include gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera; skin infections; ear and sinus infections and respiratory diseases. The members of a community most at risk of these diseases are those whose immune systems are not strong, such as the young and the old, pregnant women, persons already suffering from other diseases and those who are malnourished. In many dense settlements such persons comprise the majority of inhabitants of that community.

The overwhelming majority of those who die from air and water pollution are poor people living in developing countries. All over the world poor people generally live nearest to dirty factories, busy roads, waste dumps and polluted rivers. According to an exhaustive review contained in the United

Nations' Human Development Report there is an irony in these statements. Even though poor people bear the brunt of environmental damage, they seldom are the principal creators of that damage. The affluent generate far more waste and consume far more resources. Yet, there are also environmental challenges that stem from spreading poverty, not only from growing affluence.

As a result of increasing impoverishment and the absence of alternatives, a swelling number of poor and landless people migrating to peri-urban areas are putting unprecedented pressure on the natural resource base as they struggle to survive.

Poor people and environmental damage are often caught in a downward spiral – past resource degradation deepens today’s poverty, while the poverty of today makes it very hard to care for or restore the environmental resource base.

Because poor people are forced to deplete resources in order to survive, this degradation further impoverishes them.

When this downward spiral becomes extreme, poor people are forced onto marginal land and fragile ecosystems in ever-increasing numbers. It is this spiral that has seriously damaged many river systems in South Africa.

An integrated approach by co-operating authorities across government and private sector boundaries is urgently needed to stop this crisis spiralling out of control.

– Urban Green File would like to acknowledge Dr Jo Barnes of the Public Health Department at the University of Stellenbosch for her invaluable knowledge she has shared with readers in this article.

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LOOKING 10 YEARS AHEAD

2016 – The future of SA’s cities questioned
As part of Urban Green File’s 10th anniversary celebrations, various role-players involved in the shaping of South Africa’s urban environment have been asked to peek into the future.

Density, transport and public space
- Henning Rasmuss, architect at Paragon
The key challenge for South African cities in coming years will be the management of increased density, with the demands on innovative models of living, playing and consumption that this will entail. If we agree that urban boundaries are good and useful in terms of resource usage and allocation, then the design of spaces and living environments within those boundaries will be hotly contested.

This will challenge our skills as professionals and our ability as a nation to build consensus and agree on a shared future.

Given increasing density and contest over resources, the key challenge inside our growing and increasingly pressurised cities will be the creation of quality public space. I believe that this is a very exciting opportunity for our society to focus on what we share and what we are prepared to share.

Responding to complexities
– Neil Fraser and Katherine Cox of Urban Inc
Planners and urban designers are faced with a myriad of challenges and opportunities over the next decade. These include service delivery; creating appropriate public open space; integrated transportation; sustainable 2010 interventions; getting citizens involved in the decision-making regarding their cities; taking environmental sustainability seriously and many more.

However, the biggest challenge and opportunity is to learn how to become more innovative and adaptive towards complexity in our cities. There are currently huge inadequacies in our town planning schemes around addressing areas of complexity and informality in the urban environment. How to constructively plan for sustainable high density and rapid urbanization across different cultures and communities while maintaining quality service delivery and good urban management appears to have eluded us over the past decade. We need to solve the dichotomy of allowing the urban fabric to morph and evolve creatively and to express itself without too much regulation yet within a sense of order and structure. We have to learn how to foster the spatial expression of local cultures and subcultures, how to become more ‘human’ as it were. Becoming more human also demands that planning and urban design must create opportunities for foreign nationals, allowing them to utilise and transfer their skills, education and unique cultures within our cities rather than alienating them as appears to so often be the case.

Water and sanitation: a concern
– Dr Michael Sutcliffe, city manager, eThekwini
This 21st century is critical for three very important reasons: climate change, the need to find new energy sources and the need to address poverty. And anything we do today must be focused on addressing all of these three realities.

eThekwini’s current population (2006) is around 3,5-million. If we assume a 2% growth in population in the next 20 years there will be another 2-million persons living in our city. If we further realise that currently over 40% of the economically active persons in our city are unemployed, we realise that we are faced with two additional challenges: land use management and creating employment.

In the next 80 to 90 years, temperatures will be 3 °C to 4 °C higher than those currently experienced for all months of the year. If rainfall decreases, and rain intensity becomes greater, it is likely that water availability will also be an issue with impacts on human water consumption and on our own food security. And managing new stormwater peaks and troughs will raise a whole new set of problems for us.

In the Mgeni catchment there will be a reduction in yearly water flow by approximately 158-million m˛, which is equivalent to the size of the Midmar Dam. Of course, more people may also migrate to eThekwini because other parts of South Africa will be drier, thus increasing our challenges.

And health-wise, malaria and cholera risks are likely to increase.

By the time we get to 2070, the average sea level should have increased by over 400 mm. We may have to relocate some developments.

In order to address the impacts on food security, we have to facilitate vulnerability assessments and adaptation strategies for agriculture. People with existing health conditions such as cancer, HIV/Aids, obesity and diabetes may be more susceptible to water-borne and vector-borne diseases and to physical stresses, such as those experienced during cold spells, floods or severe storms. Sanitation therefore becomes critical.

Pedestrian-friendly settlements
– Tasneem Essop, Minister of Environment Planning & Economic Development, Western Cape Provincial Government
In 2016 our cities will reflect our process of ‘becoming’ as a society. Cities will be evolving into places in which South Africans live and experience the full splendour of democracy and freedom.

Our cities will become sustainable human settlements  – the foci of human well-being, shared prosperity, environmental integrity and efficient service provision. They will be a ménage of cultures, ages, lifestyles, uses, tenures and incomes.

Places validating both our diversity, indigenous communities and classes.

Our streets will institutionalise engagement, access and opportunity. They will facilitate income generation, public movement, interaction and cultural expression.

Our cities will consist of a complex, interrelated matrix of unique places reflecting the diversity of permanent and transient inhabitants and the nature of respective unique habitats. Some places will be vibrant hubs of experience juxtaposed with places of ecological calm and integrity. Others will live for 24 hours, never dying, never sleeping – expanding the scope of our enterprise imagination. Our townships will belong within our cities as de-segregated centres of life, commerce and culture.

At the very heart of our cities will be consideration for our most vulnerable citizens: women and the ‘girl child’. Streets will be designed for safety: lighting and active ground levels will facilitate vigilance and ‘eyes on the street’.

Pedestrians will reign and the street will structure economic, residential and social activity.

Our cities will adapt to and mitigate the reality of climate change. They will be compact and densified. Public transport (including cycling paths) and the public realm will structure our growth and development. Urban structure will be planned to reduce carbon emissions, democratize access to opportunity and provide a palette for the collage of experiences. Our cities and buildings will be designed to be sustainable, incorporating energy efficiency, renewables and recycling technology.

The public realm will recognise and validate the full spectrum of our people’s identity, culture and lived experience. Our growth and development trajectory will be based on the ‘earth democracy’ principles espoused by Vandana Shiva, recognizing the intrinsic value of all unique ecologies and communities to allow biological and cultural diversity to flourish.

Lagos or Sao Paulo?
– Henning Rasmuss, architect at Paragon

There are two scenarios in my mind: More like Lagos or more like Sao Paulo? Lagos as the ‘low road’ scenario of unserviced, congested cities left to individual creativity and mercenary individual needs and demands. Sao Paulo as the not-quite-perfect ‘high road’ scenario, with planned high density, well-serviced infrastructure and a satisfying and exciting density of choice and interaction.

Better public space and public transport
– Henning Rasmuss, architect at Paragon

Rasmuss believes that the following needs to happen:
*            The end of mercenary privatisation of public space, such as road closures, which are making our cities unsafe.
*            The creation of quality and large-scale public spaces of specific character, non-privatised, non-franchised, non-themed and not part of shopping malls.
*            The creation of a working and integrated public transport system with REAL high-density development that makes REAL choice and urban amenity possible.

Design around people rather than cars
– Neil Fraser and Katherine Cox of Urban Inc
We must plan and design around people and places rather than allow ourselves to be dominated by economic and vehicular issues.

The dynamic ex-mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Penalosa, talks about good planning and urban design as being the cornerstones for the democratisation of cities. "If we in the Third World measure our success or failure as a society in terms of income, we would have to classify ourselves as losers until the end of time. With our limited resources, we have to invent other ways to measure success. This might mean that all kids have access to sports facilities, libraries, parks, schools, nurseries.

In Bogotá, our goal was to make a city for all the children. The measure of a good city is one where a child on a tricycle or bicycle can safely go anywhere. If a city is good for children, it will be good for everybody else. Over the last 80 years we have been making cities much more for cars' mobility than for children’s happiness."

Penalosa clearly views cities as being planned for a specific purpose: to create human well-being and the city leadership should promote human happiness.

"Economics, urban planning, ecology are only the means,” he says.

“Happiness is the goal – places must make people happy." He points out that while income equality as a concept does not relate to market economy, we should be seeking to achieve quality-of-life equality and that urban policy can be a powerful means to achieve equality in quality-of-life. "The least a democratic society should do is to offer people wonderful public spaces,” he says.

“Public spaces are not a frivolity; they are just as important as hospitals and schools; they create a sense of belonging; this creates a different type of society — a society where people of all income levels meet in public space is a more integrated, socially healthier one."

Our dream is that our cities will embrace such concepts and, over the next decade, move strongly to becoming ‘good cities’ – in Penalosa’s terms!

Reflecting SA’s diversity
– Tasneem Essop, Minister of Environment Planning & Economic Development, Western Cape Provincial Government
Planning and design practitioners share the same basic challenge to meeting our vision: democratization of the design/plan-making process.

This will ensure that in its aesthetics, typologies and form, our urban and built environment will reflect the diversity of identity in South Africa, a common quality of life and environmental sustainability.

Architecture and urban form must respond and add value to the way that the average South African lives.

This means designing for the poor, the second economy and the vulnerable as a matter of principle and not profit.

South African planners and designers must develop new discourses, practices and processes that speak to our unique history and post-modern experience, our diverse identity and an alternative growth path of sustainable development and social justice. That project will be the legacy we leave future generations.

Perhaps then our cities can be benchmarked according to Penalosa’s indicator: “the laughter of children”.

Durban’s five key intervention
– Dr Michael Sutcliffe, city manager, eThekwini
Firstly, we must focus on increasing our economic growth rate and employment opportunities through making the port work smarter, increasing manufacturing output and tourism.

Our strategic projects are focused around building for 2010 and beyond.

Secondly, energy-efficient land use planning is critical if we are to build now to accommodate the future. Arable land should not automatically be converted to urban use while planning must ensure we are increasing densities in all the existing central and suburban business districts.

Thirdly, the separation of home from both work and social facilities must be addressed now with an even greater focus on building an integrated public transport system focused around the high priority public transport corridors. Around these areas densities must increase significantly.

Fourthly, we must electronically connect all the people living in our city. We are working on developing a network to allow all in our city to become connected. Imagine if in a few years’ time, for as little as R50 you will be able to buy a PDA to e-mail people, apply for jobs, and access your bank accounts and the like.

And, finally, we need to work sustainably. Everything we build today must survive us all. We must do this in a caring way and in ways which ensure we become a truly equal, democratic and financially successful city.

High-density as a positive phenomenon
– Neil Fraser and Katherine Cox of Urban Inc
Planning and urban design must embrace high density as a positive phenomenon and examine how to respond to this critical aspect on a sustainable basis. Within the density issue, planning must allow the positive economic spin-offs of gentrification to be locally inclusive while not marginalizing existing communities. Density and mobility must be integrated which will have a major impact on the look, feel and spatial form of our cities. Singapore Islands are a great example for us of high-density living in a ‘green’ environment.

The alternative is where we currently appear to be headed: mass sprawl everywhere leading to ‘nowhereness’.

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10 IDEAS

10 interventions to change our cities
For 10 years, Urban Green File has been firing up debate around the environmental planning and management of South African cities. In this time, 10 ideas have evolved that could be explored to improve our cities over the next 10 years.

1 A denser urban fabric
South African cities are notorious for their never-ending sprawl of single-storey houses on large plots. The larger the plots and the more affluent the residents, the closer they seem to be to workplaces – be it city centres or business nodes such as Sandton, Menlyn and Cavendish. In contrast, poorer neighbourhoods are mostly located on the outskirts of urban areas, far from work opportunities. The result is a massive influx of people commuting to work every day, often by taxi, and this places a heavy burden on road infrastructure.

In recent years, densification has become a trend with large erven being subdivided to accommodate smaller townhouse units. There are many downsides to this approach: in some cases houses with heritage value are demolished; new townhouses mostly cater for the top income bracket and infrastructure such as sewerage and roads is normally not upgraded to accommodate the increased load.

Urban Green File suggests a different approach. Introducing new ways of ‘sectional titling’ could promote densification while bringing affordable housing stock to the market.

2 Break down the fences
Imagine a city without high fences and walls. Sounds far-fetched? Well outside South Africa, it is actually the norm. Through higher-density development, the need for unsightly walls is quickly eliminated as people do not feel so vulnerable – there are more eyes on the street.

To turn South Africa’s obsession with walls and electric fences around is probably impossible and inadequate policing does not help. But it is probably unfair to blame the crime problem on policing alone as poor urban planning has contributed to an environment ideally suited to criminal activity.

3 Focus development on main arterials
Along many arterials in South African cities, residential erven have been granted business rights. This has resulted in traditional houses being converted into offices while little consideration has been paid to the interface with the street. Walls in front of properties are retained; parking has been added; and there is no provision for pedestrians who may have to walk along the arterial to reach a public transport node.

Municipalities should promote the development of mixed land-use, including retail and commercial, along busy arterials but their approach should be more aggressive and civic minded: high-density and mixed-use developments should be encouraged rather than single-storey houses on individual plots.

These buildings should line a public space in the form of pedestrian-friendly sidewalks.

Multi-storey buildings could be used to form ‘perimeter blocks’, even spanning across side streets so as to form gateways to the neighbourhoods behind. Vehicular transport, particularly public transport, could be encouraged to follow the main arterials while the suburbs behind these could be allowed to retain their character. Perhaps the city council could limit its responsibility for the upkeep of public space to the main arterials and residents’ associations could take care of parks and pavements within enclosed communities.

4 Pedestrians first
It is astounding that pedestrians are simply not considered in the planning of South African cities. In the case of certain ‘provincial roads’ cutting through our cities, it is official policy not to provide sidewalks! The argument is that these roads should facilitate rapid movement of vehicles and that the provision for pedestrians would result in slower traffic as pedestrians would naturally attract unwanted taxis and buses stopping along the way and slowing traffic.

Such thinking shows a lack of understanding of the functioning of cities. The fact is public transport works most successfully along these prominent routes and, with the many gated neighbourhoods in our cities, pedestrians simply have no other option than to walk along busier, so-called provincial routes.

Urban Green File believes that no new road should be built without adequate pavements catering for pedestrians.

These should be integrated with public transport nodes where taxis and buses could easily stop.

5 Public transport generating urban form
Cities the world over develop around public movement routes. Whether train routes, bus routes or simply streets popular with pedestrians, these avenues attract higher-density land use in the form of retail, business and residential space.

The introduction of the Gautrain to Johannesburg and Pretoria could signal the beginning of a new era in which public transport would also become the primary generator of urban form in South Africa. It is only natural for high-density housing, mixed with many retail, business and entertainment opportunities, to be centred on nodes such as train stations and taxi termini.

It is essential to promote the use of public transport by improving the efficiency of the service rendered. In this regard special lanes for buses, taxis, bicycles and motor cycles should be provided. In the case of the Gautrain, its success would not only depend on the speed and efficiency of the train itself but also on how easy it is to catch another form of public transport to and from the station to your final destination.

6 Utilise road servitudes and buffer zones
South African town planners and civil engineers seem to overcompensate when it comes to road servitudes. Massive and under- utilised servitudes flank most roads. Not only does this place a major burden on the municipalities responsible for maintenance (cutting grass) but the no-man’s land often becomes unsafe.

Urban Green File believes engineers could plan better for services and therefore require less space for servitudes. At the same time, South African cities continue to suffer the legacy of apartheid.

Some 12 years into democracy, raciallydefined neighbourhoods remain segregated by buffer zones.

This no-man’s land could be re-used for housing development.

As the land already belongs to local government, affordable housing schemes could be introduced so that more people could live closer to work opportunities and there would be less pressure on public transport systems – ultimately a more effective city

7. Reclaim urban rivers
Urban Green File’s Insult of the Decade has been awarded to the state of South Africa’s urban rivers. With scant regard for ecological value, let alone the recreational potential of the many streams and rivers in our cities, these have mostly deteriorated into badly-polluted stormwater canals.

Due to negligence in terms of planning as well as maintenance, many of these streams have begun to endanger the lives of city dwellers. Not only have news reports of drownings during flash floods become a regular occurrence but unkempt open spaces along streams have also become hideaway places for criminals.

Perhaps it is time for our cities to reclaim their rivers and streams. Through innovative stormwater engineering, retention dams could be built in or adjacent to these streams. Collected water could be used for irrigation of street-side trees while flooding could be controlled. These dams would also provide welcome recreational space.

Pollution should be limited through the introduction of wetland planting to clean the water, while oil and litter traps should prevent pollutants from entering the river ecology.

In a city such as Johannesburg, urban streams stretch from the centre of town (on top of the continental watershed, the Witwatersrand) in northerly and southerly directions. With relatively low gradients, these river courses present an ideal opportunity to introduce alternative transport routes. Bicycle paths could be offered as an alternative to commuting on overcrowded highways. The trick would be to provide a safe route, properly lit at night, and with sufficient surveillance. In this regard, it is important for houses, flats and office buildings along river courses to be integrated with the adjacent public space as opposed to them turning their backs on the rivers. No high, solid walls should be allowed – at best, picket fences should be tolerated.

8 Parking please!
The central business districts of our cities should become more pedestrian-friendly. People should be encouraged to use public transport such as buses, taxis and even trams within central city precincts. But it would be naďve to think that everyone would make use of public transport to commute to and from city centres.

The convenient car is here to stay. The revival of city centres like that of Johannesburg would never reach critical mass if proper provision is not made for the safe parking of cars. In this sense, Urban Green File promotes the concept of multi-storey car parks all along the periphery of the city centre. In the case of Johannesburg, these could flank the M2 and M1 highways. Not only would they help to buffer the noise of the highway, they would also provide desperately-needed parking space. A circular bicycle route, as well as special lanes for taxis and buses, should connect the various parking garages with each other and then, via criss-cross routes, the various city blocks.

9 Parkland as a tourist attraction
It would be sad, though, if South African cities were to copy the urban form of the many internationally-acclaimed cities of the world. Yes, there are lessons to be learned from the dense urban fabric of cities such as Paris and Amsterdam but South African cities do have unique qualities in terms of their ‘greenness’. Many trees and open spaces such as urban nature reserves, conservancies, streams, parks and golf courses give our cities a countryside appeal. We should make the best of this and use it to our advantage. Tree-lined avenues and green open spaces are attractive and any visitor from abroad would surely like to enjoy the uniqueness of our cities. Why then do we so often hide these qualities of our cities? Although Johannesburg’s northern suburbs are, in many ways, within a dense forest, this is not obvious from the main arterials where advertising billboards dominate. Spectacular spaces such as golf courses and parks are hidden behind precast concrete walls or high palisade fences. These spaces should be integrated into the visual landscape, not hidden from view.

10 Ban the office park!
Office parks provide safe and beautiful environments in which businesses can excel.

They provide for an integration of open or natural space and buildings. However they fail in the sense that they exist as mini business districts where people work only to commute home at the end of the business day.

Towards more compact and integrated cities, office parks should be utilised to their full potential. Residential apartments and other uses such as cafés and shops should be introduced. Single-use precincts should be banned! By providing residential space close to office space, the burden on our cities’ roads would be significantly reduced.

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TREE OF THE DECADE

Acacia xanthophloea – the ‘fever tree’
Feverish avenues
The fever tree is Urban Green File’s tree of the decade.

One of the most popular pages in Urban Green File is the ‘tree of the issue’. In this regular column, the editor asks a designer or contractor to choose a favourite tree that can successfully be used for urban greening – be it as a street tree or in general landscaping applications, for instance on parking lots.

In celebrating its first decade of publishing, Urban Green File has chosen the Acacia xanthophloea as the tree of the decade. Originally nominated by Louis Meintjies of Bergsig Nursery as the tree of the November/December 1998 edition, publisher and landscape architect Gerald Garner has selected it for ‘tree of the decade’ status.

Its greenish-yellow trunk and striking branch architecture makes the Acacia xanthophloea a striking tree with which to line an avenue or to plant as a focal element within a landscape. It is surprising that it is not more often used as a street tree. Although this tree is sensitive to frost, Garner has successfully grown fever trees on the northern side of a ridge in Melville, Johannesburg.

Fever trees have also been planted in Adderley Street, Cape Town – a departure from the norm in that setting but an intervention that adds a certain African flavour to the city.

There is an avenue of fever trees on the University of Pretoria campus (pictured).

Fever trees can be planted closely together as they grow naturally in marshy areas and in dense groupings.

The leaves allow enough sunlight through for this tree to be used in locations where solid shadows are not wanted.